FNB: Another interesting report on some of the specific ideological underpinnings of the Bush regime, and the efforts to export it's "revolution" elsewhere. For the wonderous B.C. on-line newspaper "The Tyee".

What do close advisors to Stephen Harper and George W. Bush have in common? They reflect to the disturbing teachings of Leo Strauss, the German-Jewish émigré who spawned the neoconservative movement.

Strauss, who died in 1973, believed in the inherent inequality of humanity. Most people, he famously taught, are too stupid to make informed decisions about their political affairs. Elite philosophers must decide on affairs of state for us.

In Washington, Straussians exert powerful influence from within the inner circle of the White House. In Canada, they roost, for now, in the so-called Calgary School, guiding Harper in framing his election strategies. What preoccupies Straussians in both places is the question of 'regime change.'"